FAMOUS TROMBONIST, ELECTRO-THEREMIN INVENTOR

CARLSBAD 
Paul Tanner rose to prominence in the late 1930s as a trombonist in the famed Glenn Miller Orchestra, with which he recorded the classics “In the Mood” and “Pennsylvania 6-5000.” But this longtime North County resident made an even greater impact in the 1960s when he invented the Electro-Theremin, the otherworldly instrument he played on the Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and on the theme songs to such hit TV shows as “My Favorite Martian,” “Lost in Space” and “Dark Shadows.”

Mr. Tanner, who was the last living member of the Miller orchestra, died of pneumonia Tuesday at the Sunrise Senior Living Facility in La Costa. He was 95.

“Paul was a pioneer, although I don’t think he ever set out to be, and he influenced so many people. His career began in the swing era and encompassed so many musical styles,” said David Miller, a Louisiana-based trumpeter who befriended Mr. Tanner in 1997 and has a web page devoted to the Electro-Theremin.

“Paul was a top-call trombonist who played in the ABC, NBC and CBS TV orchestras, but he became best known for playing the Theremin,” Miller noted. “It’s ironic, but he took it in good humor.”

Mr. Tanner was the co-creator of the Electro-Theremin, the unique, high-pitched instrument featured on such Beach Boys songs as “Good Vibrations”, “Wild Honey” and “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.” He was also called on for various film and TV soundtracks that needed him to contribute just the right sound on the Electro-Theremin.

“I did an awful lot of work on the thing,” Mr. Tanner said in a 2000 U-T San Diego interview. “If they wanted something that sounded eerie or for a scene where a person was drunk, they called me.”

He devised his updated version of the Theremin, latter dubbed “Paul’s Box,” from the original tone-generation instrument, which was created in the 1920s by Russian inventor Leo Theremin. But Mr. Tanner is remembered by colleagues as much for his warmth as for his artistic contributions.

“He was a wonderful guy, a real gentleman, very passionate about music,” said Dan Del Fiorentino, the historian at Carlsbad’s Museum of Making Music, who interviewed Mr. Tanner in 2001 for an oral history program at the museum.

Carlsbad resident Avram Kaplan, 64, took a jazz history class from Mr. Tanner in 1969 at UCLA, where Mr. Tanner spent 23 years as the director of jazz studies.

“His class was so popular. It was mesmerizing and fun,” Kaplan said, adding that there were about 400 students in his class. “He was probably one of the best professors I had, and I had great professors at that time in UCLA.”

Mr. Tanner was born on Oct. 15, 1917, in Skunk Hollow, Ky. He was the trombonist for the Miller band from 1938 to 1942. He later was a studio musician in Los Angeles, where he collaborated with Henry Mancini, Arturo Toscanini and other luminaries.

Mr. Tanner was prominently featured on the Beach Boys’ landmark “Pet Sounds” album, which in turn inspired The Beatles to make their “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club” album. During his teaching tenure at UCLA, he wrote numerous music textbooks and was awarded the title of “Distinguished Professor”.

Mr. Tanner retired in 1981 and moved to Carlsbad.

“I remember I asked him once what his favorite memory was among the many, and he said all of them,” Fiorentino said. “He was very proud of what he had accomplished but very humble about it.”